Diana and I agreed to go back home on a beautiful sunny and warm day after a cold start and we agreed to collect Della later to give us all afternoon at Heronshaw. I was working on the shed with Diana polishing the boat and ended up with the shed very high indeed pending efforts to raise the rest of the ground. A little spin in the Zodiac inflatable before putting boat and property to bed and driving home, collecting Della on the way.
Both Michael Heseltine and Norman Tebbit are sending out coded signals about standing for the Conservative Party leadership if Thatcher stands down as the Treasury spending targets for 1991/2 outlined in last week's Budget are being undermined by inflation and new poll tax reliefs. In Lithuania, Soviet troops have forcefully occupied party and government buildings
Diana and I had another debate this morning about exactly what time we should head back with Diana favouring lunchtime and me much later. In the end we agreed that I should telephone her parents and agree a time after tea for us to collect Della to give us all afternoon at Heronshaw. It was a beautiful sunny and warm day after a cold start and I got out to work on my shed at last while Diana polished the outside of the boat. I did the remaining work in fitting the braces, jacking it up and making the block foundation in the morning; and then did the cladding in the afternoon until it was all done apart from the access and trap doors. I have raised it a lot and it looks too high off of the ground but I intend to raise the garage and plot as well as Heronshaw and was doing a job that is intended to last well into the future.
** PRESS "Read More" BELOW for the complete story **
After all this, I found half an hour to take Diana for a spin in the Zodiac inflatable tender. The new Mariner 9.9HP ran well but Di got a bit of a soaking when I turned into our own wake and did not like it very much! Then the task of putting the property and the boat to bed before we could leave. We loaded up the old twin tub washing machine to take home with all of our other things and it was quite late before we left and we then hit the Norwich Friday-night commuter traffic as well. Della was pleased to see us when we collected her from Bar Hill. Home to my normal pile of mail and telephone messages but, after unloading and the journey, I had to rest for a half hour before I could go into my office and tackle it.
The news is again dominated by Thatcher's problems. Now both Michael Hezeltine and Norman Tebbit are sending out coded signals about standing for the Conservative Party leadership if Thatcher stands down in the near future and she has to emphasise that there is no vacancy at the moment! She is defiantly at bay over the Poll Tax and her meeting with Chancellor Kohl has ended with disagreement after all on the future of economic and nuclear policy. Now the Treasury spending targets for 1991/2 outlined in last week's Budget are being undermined by inflation and new poll tax reliefs agreed since. In Lithuania, Soviet troops have forcefully occupied the offices of certain government agencies as well as that of the Communist Party ahead of the Red Army's Spring conscription draft that starts tomorrow. A joint rally by Nelson Mandela and the Zulu Chief Buthelezi has been called off and with it are lost the hopes of black reconciliation in Natal Province.